[lively accordion music playing]
[woman in French accent on tape] "Mastery of French." Tape 2, side A.
Chapter 4. Conversational French.
[music halts]
[motorcycle engine revving]
[speaking French]
[in English] Excuse me. Where are the nearest bathrooms?
[tires squealing]
[lively accordion music resumes]
[Carol speaking French]
My compliments to your father.
[Carol speaking French]
[in English] Hello. Are these oysters fresh?
[geese honking]
[engine stops]
[speaking French]
[in English] Excuse me. My spoon is dirty.
[woman on tape speaking French]
[woman in English] What is the exchange policy on this dress?
[woman in parachute] Woo!
Carol!
Elena!
[Carol speaking French]
[in English] What?
[speaking French]
[Elena in English] "Where is the downtown metro station"?
Yeah!
Okay, great!
[wind whooshing]
[music fades]
[faint birdsong]
[Carol] Are you holding on?
[refrigerator droning]
[Carol] I hope it's comfortable.
I've slept on it a couple times and it wasn't too--
-What? -[Elena] Nothing. I missed you.
[gargling]
[Elena] Do you have an extra toothbrush?
I heard one of the scientists studying Keppler joined a folk trio.
You hear their stuff?
[Carol] Go to bed!
No. Say it in French.
[Carol] Go. To. Bed.
[laughs] I can't believe you thought you had to learn French to talk to me!
[dramatic theme music playing]
[woman on TV] Dying with dignity is an absolute must.
And it starts with a fresh-pressed shirt and a stylish hat.
[sizzling]
Hi, Mom and Dad! Guess where I am!
Um, hi.
We're about to visit Hidden Falls in Sabino Canyon forest!
It's a day-and-a-half hike. I am so excited.
What about you, Carol?
Yeah, me too.
I'm also excited.
Hello, Mom and Dad.
-[singing in Spanish] -[Flamenco guitar playing]
[music halts]
You got it?
[Elena] You can move! It's not a photo.
[Elena laughs] Careful!
These aren't the right…
shoes.
[Elena] Carol!
[Elena laughing]
Let's find another way up.
[singing and chirping]
-[birdsong] -[insects chirping]
[Elena] Beautiful, right?
The water shoots out into this big pool underneath.
It's beautiful.
And crystal-clear too.
It's 87 on the 100 places you need to see before you die.
[sighs] What…
What number is sitting down?
[bell tolling]
[chirping]
[Elena] What is your name?
[panting] What?
[Elena] What is your name?
Why?
[Elena] For the camera.
-Carol. -[Elena] Carol what?
-Kohl. -[Elena] But say your whole name.
Carol Kohl?
[Elena] Great! Now say it like it's not a trick question.
What?
[Elena] Say it like you know your own name.
I don't understand.
Why are…
Why are you taping this?
[Elena] I want to remember it forever.
I feel like you're making fun of me.
[Elena] It's good B-roll. Keep eating.
Carol Kohl.
[Elena] No, faster. Do it all in one shot.
[scoffs] Can we…
It's too much direction.
[Elena] So, how is it having me as a sister?
It's nice.
[Elena] Come on. Give me more than that.
I don't know. It's good.
Okay. What about your favorite memory of me?
Um, when you got your perm.
[Elena laughs]
That's your favorite memory? That's so embarrassing!
You looked nice.
[Elena] I looked like a Chia Pet, and I cried for, like, a week.
I don't know. I thought you looked like Whitney Houston.
[Elena] I think it's deer.
Think it's poisonous?
[Carol] Probably.
I wonder where everyone else is.
[wind blowing]
[Elena] After college,
did you hate living with me?
-What? -[Elena] Come on. You can be honest.
We didn't even hang out.
No, it was fun.
[Elena] You moved back home.
Yeah, because Cookie had fleas.
[Elena] I got rid of them.
They were still there.
Plus, he got stuck in the crawl space.
[Elena] Okay, yeah. I admit it. That place was a dump.
I just thought living together would--
Is this right?
[insects chirping]
[Elena] Um…
-Do you have any questions for me? -Maybe.
[Elena gasps] Oh, this is so exciting! What?
Why do you like to record everything?
[Elena] I thought you liked the videos.
I do. I'm just curious.
[Elena] Well, I like sharing what I'm doing.
Is there something wrong with that?
No.
It's just, you do a lot.
You know?
[Elena] Uh-huh.
[hooting]
She's amazing and beautiful,
and she gets in everything,
the air, the spaces between.
And because of her, because of what she does,
I think I know what love is…
[Elena] This is Carol Kohl, former middle school secretary,
talking about Whitney Houston.
Elena, turn that off!
-[laughing] -[Carol] Ugh.
I'm so sorry!
It just sort of slipped out.
[Carol] Oh my God!
Oh! Oh! [sniffing, laughing]
Carol, can I ask you something?
What?
Why did you tell Mom and Dad you surf?
I know you don't.
Well…
Why even lie?
I just didn't want them to worry.
Worry about what?
Can we please not? Please?
[Elena] So, wait.
What did you do with the board?
[Carol] Some kid named Lucas has it.
-[Elena chuckles] Oh! Your "Carol" board? -[Carol] Yeah.
He said he'd smoke me out for it, but I wasn't sure what that meant,
so I just gave it to him for free.
[Elena laughing] Oh, no.
[birds singing]
[Elena speaking French]
[liquid trickling]
[wind howling]
How do you…
Shit! Can someone--
Carol Kohl.
[Elena] Good!
Finally.
I think there are ants on this.
I just wish they were all locked up.
-I'm sorry, but I don't trust them. -[Elena giggles, sighs]
Elena, they act like criminals, and they're everywhere.
It's scary. One can just pick you up and take you away.
[Elena] Carol Daphne Kohl talks about her fear of large birds. Let's listen in.
Elena, it's not a joke. They can take your eyes out.
[Elena laughing]
[Elena] Four more miles to go.
[Carol groaning]
My shoulders are starting to hurt.
[Elena] I told you not to over-pack.
I just like to be prepared.
[Elena] You brought a harness and a rope.
I don't know, just in case.
[Elena] Okay, just in case what?
Is that a shrug?
Carol, are you shrugging?
[laughs] Oh, Carol!
It's hard with the backpack on.
[Elena] Okay. What is your earliest childhood memory?
Um, you remember that dog?
[Elena] What dog? Cookie?
No.
It was like a black dog.
[Elena] A black dog? When was this?
I was around seven.
[Elena] Okay, but what about it?
I don't know. It's fuzzy.
[Elena] The dog was fuzzy?
No, the memory.
Sorry. Forget it.
[Elena] What?
Tell me!
Okay.
I remember it not growling at me.
[Elena] What?
-It didn't growl. -[Elena splutters]
Your earliest childhood memory is a dog you can't remember not growling at you?
I think so.
[Elena] That's not a memory, Carol.
Might have been a dream.
[Elena] Okay. We're taping over this.
[faint birdsong]
[plane engine droning]
[Elena] Isn't it weird?
[Carol] What?
[Elena] How we're all gonna die soon?
[Carol] Yeah.
-[Elena] Okay. Biggest regret. -[Carol murmurs]
[Elena] Okay, from now on, say "shrug" if you're shrugging.
Shrug.
What about you?
[Elena] I don't know. I have like a million.
All the projects I never finished,
not going to Cancun in college, my marriage,
all the people I wish I kept in touch with,
all the dresses I didn't buy,
not appreciating being young when I was,
not seeing Grandma.
But I am where I am because of it, so…
Me, I guess…
I wish I had said no to more things.
[Elena] Jesus, Carol.
What?
-[parrot 1] It's a planet! -[parrot 2] A planet?
-[parrot 3] Oh God! -[parrot 4] What does it weigh?
[overlapping parrot chatter]
[Elena] First sexual experience?
-No way. -[Elena] Come on!
-No. -[Elena] How wild was it?
[chuckles] Come on!
You know Mom and Dad would love to hear this.
Oh! You're such a prude!
-I'm not. -[Elena] Then why don't you tell me?
Okay, look, I'll even turn off the--
Horace Zielinski in college.
Missionary, on a bed, bra still on.
Roommate walks in.
No!
[Elena laughing]
[Elena chuckles, sighs]
-You want to know mine? -No, not really.
I gave a handjob to Travis Michaels in the tenth grade.
[Carol] Great.
Ugh. What is the big deal?
I'm just trying to get to know you.
[chuckles] Carol. What are you doing back there?
[Carol] I don't want to be on tape anymore!
[Elena] Is this about Horace Zielinski?
Look, I'm sorry. I'll stop recording.
Elena!
[Elena gasps]
-Do you see them? -[Carol] No.
[Elena whispers] Straight ahead.
This feels longer than four miles.
[Elena] What do you wish you had more time for?
[Carol murmuring]
-[Elena] What? -I don't know. Sleep?
[Elena] Okay, then, what's something you wish you knew when you were younger?
[Carol grumbles]
Elena, please. Can we…
-How much longer is it? -[Elena] We're almost there.
-But shouldn't we be hearing it? -[Elena] Wait, what?
The falls?
[Elena] We will. Don't worry.
On your last day, what will you be doing?
-Shrug. -[Elena] Come on!
Shrug.
[Elena] Oh, you're no fun, you know that?
[Carol] We're lost.
[Elena] We're not lost.
[Elena yelps]
So, if you haven't been surfing, what have you been doing?
Elena. I don't like this.
-I'm tired. -You're trying to get out of the question.
I'm not!
[Elena] Come on. What have you been doing?
I'm just trying to get you to open up.
I am.
[Elena] How? I can barely get more than one sentence out of you.
You always do this.
[Elena] What does that mean?
Carol, you're going to rip your bag like that!
Carol!
-Is it going to fall out? -[Elena] No, just put something flat--
-We're lost. -[Elena] We're not lost.
We are.
Okay, we're lost.
[chuckles] Whoopsies.
[sighs]
This is Carol Kohl, age 42, giving her sister the silent treatment.
Anything to add?
No comment.
Will you please…
I can't find the stakes.
[Elena] I put them in--
[insects chirping]
[Elena] Where did you go?
Nowhere.
Can you not right now?
-Stop. -[Elena] What?
Stop!
-[Elena] Talk to me! What's-- -I said, "Stop."
[Elena] Ow!
I'm just trying to talk to you.
[Carol] No, you're not. You're playing with the camera.
[Elena] Yeah. Because you won't talk to me.
Why do you think I'm even interviewing you?
Because you don't talk.
I always have to pry it out of you. Otherwise you won't tell me anything.
-You always put up a wall. -[Carol] You're the one behind the camera.
[Elena] Yeah, because we're going to die, and I don't even know you.
You've always been like this. It's like we're not even sisters.
I never get to be part of your world.
I mean, I had to drag you out to the middle of nowhere
to try to get close to you.
Do you have any idea how upsetting that is?
I don't even know what you're doing, for Christ's sake!
Anything to say?
No. Of course not.
[Elena] Do it! Do it! Do it!
Yeah! [laughing]
-Wow! -[singing in Spanish]
[Elena chuckling]
[man continues singing]
[Elena] Bravo! Bravo!
[birds singing]
[Elena speaking French]
[tent fabric rustling]
[zipper zipping]
[Elena] Hey.
Can we talk?
[insects chirping]
[geese honking]
[Elena] It must have been around here.
Hi.
Did you get it?
[Elena] Yeah.
Well, here it is.
The Hidden Falls in Sabino Canyon forest.
The highest above-ground fall in the Northern Hemisphere.
[Elena chuckles] It's the journey, I guess.
[Elena inhales sharply, sighs]
It's still really beautiful.
[Elena] Yeah. Not bad for a bunch of old, eroded rocks.
You know what I read?
I read that the negative ions in waterfalls
can increase serotonin levels.
Um, Elena?
[Elena] Yeah?
I just wanted to say--
[Elena] Whenever you're ready.
I am Carol Kohl!
[voice echoing]
[Elena] Oh, that's the best one yet.
So?
-What? -[Elena] Come on, you know what.
Seriously? You're not going to tell me?
Come on.
[Carol sighs] Okay.
Here goes.
Um…
I go to an empty office building and work.
I'm an administrative assistant for an accounting department.
I don't know how it works or why it's even there.
Sometimes I think I'm making it all up.
But I like it, and it makes me happy.
[Elena sighs]
I love you, Carol.
[insects chirping]
[Elena sighs] I don't know. It's hard to explain.
[man, in Spanish] Try.
[in English] I've never met anyone so sure of what they can and can't do.
She always did her own thing.
Do you know how hard that is?
That's just so cool to me.
I always do what everyone else does.
[woman in Spanish] What's her name?
Carol.
I just regret not knowing her better.
Does she know how you feel?
Sounds like you should be there with her instead of here with us.
[all chuckling]
[in English] Yeah, maybe.
[motorcycle engine revving]
[Carol] You holding on?
[Elena] Yeah.
I got you!
["Soft Spot" by Claud playing]
♪ This sounds kinda strange ♪
♪ I thought I saw you at a party ♪
♪ But I finally got close ♪
♪ It wasn't you ♪
♪ I know we don't talk right now ♪
♪ But if I saw you, I'd sit down ♪
♪ And ask about your afternoon ♪
♪ You made it clear that it's over now ♪
♪ But you're all that I think about ♪
♪ So now I don't know What the hell to do ♪
♪ 'Cause I've got ♪
♪ A soft spot ♪
[camcorder clicking]
♪ I've got ♪
♪ It for you ♪
[song ends]